A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

autumn

Welcome to the fall

The temperature in my neck of the woods is supposed to top 80 degrees today.

This weekend, I’m hopping on a plane and heading the Los Angeles for three baseball games (my final of the year, and the first time I’m watching baseball so late in the season live) … and it’s supposed to be hot. But, at least it’s not supposed to be humid.

Of course, at the same time, my part of the country is supposed to cool down some. Maybe it will actually feel like fall.

Some trees are already starting to change colors. I’m hoping for some good images come this fall. We’ll see how that goes, right?

Either way, the fall is officially upon us. What kind of weather are you hoping for and what do you like most about the fall?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Fall is arriving quickly

Fall brings awesome colors!

I think it’s safe to say the fall is arriving.

Despite the hot-as-hell days we’ve had this week, it looks like cooler weather is returning. And I like that. Fall is one of my favorite seasons. It’s ripe with photographic possibilities. The days and nights get cooler, but usually not too bad, and it is a time when the air truly smells fresh as can be.

Of course with the onset of fall, that means winter is eventually coming, too.

But, for now, it’s fall.

Football fills up Friday nights and Saturday afternoons at local high schools. The days get shorter, which is one of the things I don’t like about fall. There’s a smell in the air unlike any other season.

Soon enough, the colors will be glorious!

Apple orchards are busy with people picking some great varieties of the fruit.

And the fall beers — there are so many good ones. I have some planned that I want to brew soon, though by the time they are ready, the fall will be almost over. I should plan better for them next year, eh?

There also seem to be some great festivals and events, whether related to fall or just because the weather is nicer.

The cooler weather also makes it better for geocaching and hiking, or a couple of rounds of disc golf. Though, to be fair, it can be slightly harder to find your discs when the leaves have fallen, especially if you have discs with autumn colors!

As I mentioned above, I really like the fall for photography. I’m hoping to get to a few state parks this year to try and capture some great images!

Maybe it’s a glass of cider you enjoy in the fall? Or the last few barbecues?

Whatever it is, fall really is quite a wonderful season.

What do you enjoy best in the fall? Let me know in the comments below!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

The good outweighs the bad when it comes to geocaching

Not too long ago, I posted about the bad side of geocaching and the reality that geocaches, sometimes, get stolen.

I guess it’s more of an unfortunate side.

Either way, there is a lot of good with the game and I wanted to share those things in this post.

The morning of the event was a magnificent, fall day.

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted an event at a local park. For those of you who are not geocachers, among the types of caches you can find are events. It’s basically where a group of geocachers gather for chat, food and whatever else. Some events are in-depth with other things to do, while some are low-key and just meet-and-greets.

Both can be fun, but the meet-and-greets really allow you to chat and visit with people.

I’ve been to events all over. I really enjoy the atmosphere and meeting new people. I’ve met a lot of people I call friends today through these caching events and I’ll look forward to many more of them in the future.

A few years ago, a small group of us headed to Canada for an event and a weekend of caching. It was something different. We met some cool people and I have some great memories from the event.

A couple of weeks before my event, one of the people posting a will-attend was one of the Canadian cachers we had met. Two of them were going to attempt to come for the weekend. That was quite cool. We had met with the two cachers the day after the event to chat and they gave us each a large ammo can to bring back.

The one I had received, I painted and was set to place. But it was a special cache, so I waited for a good time to place it.

Morning fog and fall colors made for a wonderful surprise before the event.

This was the perfect time with our Canadian friends coming to the area.

More on that in a moment.

When hosting an event, I always try and get there a little early with the idea of being in the spot when people come. With it being morning, there was still a bit of fog out. The sun was out at that point and was trying to cut through the layers of fog. That led to a few excellent photo opportunities.

The event was a success. We had nearly 20 geocachers there, some great food choices and a lot of great chatter. It’s times like this when I realize how much I love this game, especially events. There are people I never would have met if not for this game and for that, I’m thankful.

Following the event, a slew of us went on a caching day, taking our Canadian friends out and about to show them the area.

That was a good time.

Geogranny and Binrat with the new cache.

One of the caches was a new one I placed — with the container I mentioned earlier in this post. It’s all decorated and is a fun little multi cache in a nice area.

The two visitors, of course, made the find.

It was loaded with many carabiners that were gifted to us on that Canadian trip, too. I’ve had this cache all ready to roll for several years and it’s nice to get it out there for people to find. The duo from North of us also dropped a whole heap of Canadian goodies in the cache, which seems fitting considering the container!

In the end, I truly enjoyed this day of caching. It’s times like this when I truly realize that geocaching isn’t about how many finds one can get, a race for a first to find, or getting all upset because somebody might do things slightly different with the game. It’s about the journey and the people you meet along the way.

And that’s why this game is good. Despite there being bad things when dealing with geocaching, the good outnumbers it. And it’s that reason why it’s continually something I look forward to doing.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Showing color on the 12 of 12

Fallen leaves rest on a lawn.

It’s been several months since I did the 12 of 12 monthly photo challenge.

For those who don’t know, the 12 of 12 is a photography challenge where people take 12 photos to show their day (or have a theme) on the 12th of each month.

And, with the weather shaky, I hadn’t decided if I wanted to do it this month.

But with the colors as they had been recently, I decided to go out for an afternoon drive to see if I could capture the fall season in my area. Being surrounded by mountains, it’s awful difficult not to appreciate the change of the season.

Last year, I thought we got hosed in regard to colors.

Not this year.

The colors pop and there are a lot of different looks. It’s always better with blue skies and a sun shining, however. I didn’t have a choice as with the 12 of 12, you have to do it on a certain day.

Still, I made due the best I could. I also don’t like that it seems like some of the “poppy” colors seem to disappear when uploaded to Flickr.

I got to see some fantastic color. I found some traditional fall looks. And I had a couple of different spots that showed some “fall” looks.

The area in which I live is quite lucky. Unless it’s a really odd year for weather, we get all four seasons. A good and colorful spring; usually a solid summer, mixed with really hot days and beautiful perfect days; a fall that will likely give us great colors (though not always for long!); and a winter that can be mild or harsh, pending the year.

Though the camera doesn’t always show the beauty of these seasons, I try and do what I can to capture. That’s why I am glad I went out and did this month’s 12 of 12.

Below are a few of my favorite shots that I used for the 12 of 12.

To see the full set on my Flickr, click here.

The Hamden Covered Bridge with fall colors in the background.

A country road.

A leaf at the end of its life cycle.

Pumpkins in a field.

A farm with the colors surrounding.

So how about you?

Did you get good fall colors this year?

Or, did you participate in the 12 of 12? If so, post your link in the comments section!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

 

Notes from my Noodle: Sept. 27 edition

Fall colors are starting to show up in the area.

The colors have come.

Probably a little sooner than I would have liked, but they are coming. With the rain we’ve had and then the cold temperatures we had over the one week (we had some frost warnings), things have sped up.

I went out Saturday to snap a few shots as the weather starts to make the turn. The looks of things so far makes me think we could have some good vibrant colors this year. Last year, the colors seemed duller than normal.

One of these weekends, I’m going to try and get out and find a couple of spots to take some foliage shots. Not sure where I want to go yet, but I have a few ideas. We’ll see what happens.

How are the colors near you? Changing yet?

***

I found the one good thing about being unemployed.

Any travel plans you have, as long as there aren’t reservations and such, can be changed quickly.

See, I was supposed to leave for the Jersey shore today. When I went to bed last night, the weather didn’t look promising. When I woke up this morning, it was worse.

There wasn’t 100 percent chance of anything, but I don’t like odds when it’s beyond 60 percent.

I was set to go down today and come back Friday morning. During that time, I was going to chill on the beach a little, do some photos and meet up with a cousin to do some night photos in the Atlantic City area.

Alas, Mother Nature is, as usual, being a bitch and playing games with my plans. So, I’m going to roll the dice and see if I can outfox her. If not, I’ll get wet either way, so whatever.

Being I was going to stay at a house my aunt and uncle own, I called them to see if it would be OK if I just went down, say, Sunday and stayed through like Wednesday of next week. My aunt said there would be no problem with that and also noted that it’s no fun at the shore when it rains.

I can deal with one day of rain. Heck, if I could capture a lightning storm on camera, that would be wild. But it’s a high percentage chance of raining tonight, tomorrow and Thursday.

Ugh.

So I made the decision to say heck with it for now and go down Sunday. It’ll be October then. As of now, the weather looks good for those three days that I am looking at. Not to say that can’t change, but I’d rather take my chances with that. If the rain slips to the weekend and all, I’m still going to go Sunday. I’m not going to keep pushing it back. But with nothing scheduled for next week (I have plans this Friday, so I had to leave early down there to come back), I can kind of take my time coming back Wednesday and such.

The bonus is that the place I wanted to go to get chowder is in fall hours until it closes for the season Oct. 9. Those fall hours include Sunday, so I’ll be able to go there and get my dinner the night I arrive.

So this is my call to Mother Nature. Please help me out. I want to be able to stroll the beach and just enjoy being away for a couple of days. If I wanted to be couped up in a house watching TV as it rains, I can do that without spending the money to travel!

***

I won’t be doing it in the next month or two, but I think I am going to merge this blog and my photo blog. It seems almost silly to have both as the photo blog really doesn’t get enough traffic.

Still, I’ve had that photo blog for a long time, so it’s hard to make the final decision to pull the plug.

I am going to be weighing the options in regard to it.

My initial thought is to bring the two blogs together here. Basically what I’d do is publish a photo daily (maybe just five days per week). The photos would be automatically scheduled to publish at about midnight each day. They’d stay up until about noonish, when I’d post the normal blog entry. That would give at least two posts per day.

Curious what people think about this change? Is it a good idea to merge the two?

I’m not fully convinced I am going to do it. As I said, I am connected to that photo blog. I just haven’t decided yet which way I want to go. If I do make the change, it will probably be a slow move and likely wouldn’t be until the change of the year.

***

Speaking of photos, I’m looking forward to this trip to the shore. I don’t get to do photos of beach settings too often. I am hoping I’ll be able to get at least one sunset and maybe a sunrise. With the water, it always makes for fun.

If I get a clear night, too, I might venture out and see about trying to do some star chasing, too. We’ll see. Not sure what the moon schedule is for the next few days.

For those of you who have shot in the beach setting — anything I should look for? I want to find some cool images.

***

The Phillies reached 100 wins for the season tonight. Awesome.

Now it’s time for the postseason. Two more games in the regular season (and they mean something to the Braves, so the Phils need to play it out… get some momentum) and then it’s time for the postseason.

I’m ready to watch this run. I just hope it’s long and ends with the team’s third World Series title!

***

Reminder! Contest going on! I am holding a contests this week. It runs from Sept. 25- to 12:01 a.m. Oct. 2. You can see all the details on the contest post. Enter for your chance to win!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!